Turbine engines generate power that is used for a variety of purposes. Society's ever increasing demands for power have led the turbine industry to increase output of the turbine engines. One such manner in which the output of turbine engines has been increased has been by lowering the inlet temperature of air flowing into the turbine engine. The reduced air temperature increases the efficiency and power of turbine engines. However, the air temperature is typically reduced through use of evaporative coolers that inject air into the air stream. The moisture laden air often forms ice on the upstream components of the turbine engine, such as, but not limited to, the air intake region, the row one turbine blade, and the row one turbine vanes. The presence of ice on the components causes premature failure of turbine components, and thus, is not desirous.
For instance, vanes and blades in the air intake section of a turbine can experience icing from ambient air and chilled air alike. The chilled air, which is commonly saturated with water vapor, enters a turbine and accelerates to a high velocity. The water vapor transforms to the solid state and freezes on components of the air intake region and components of the blade assembly. Icing of an air inlet structure may also occur when the ambient temperature of in-flowing air is at or above freezing and has a sufficient moisture content.
One anti-icing technique that has been used includes channeling high temperature, high pressure air from the turbine engine compressor to the air inlet region of the turbine engine. Such a technique prevents icing by raising the temperature of the air in the air inlet region. A problem with this technique is that it results in an increase in fuel consumption of the turbine engine and a reduced power output. In one estimation, 2.5% to 3% percent of the total airflow is needed to raise the temperature of the air in the inlet region sufficiently to avoid icing. This amount of compressor bleed air has been estimated to reduce the turbine engine's power output by approximately 7%, which approximates to over 12,000,000 Watts. Thus, a need exists to prevent icing of the turbine without detracting from the power produced by the turbine.